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Tonight: Kamala Harris Officially Accepts Democratic Nomination; Harris Team Lays Out Three Objectives For High-Stakes Speech; Warren's Message To Progressives Unsure About Harris; Harris Readies For Biggest Night Of Her Political Career; Trump On "Project 2025": "I Have Nothing To Do With It"; Gus Walz Steals The Show During Tim Walz's Speech. Aired 12-12:30p ET

Aired August 22, 2024 - 12:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

[12:00:00]

DANA BASH, CNN HOST: Welcome to Inside Politics. I'm Dana Bash live from the Democratic National Convention in Chicago, where behind me right now up -- just wrapped up. Timing is everything in life. The chicks were preparing for their rendition of the national anthem tonight, and trust me, you are going to want to hear that.

Also tonight, a woman named Kamala Harris is going to take that stage behind me to formally accept her party's presidential nomination and make history as she becomes the first black woman and first Asian American to lead a major party's ticket. It will no doubt be the biggest audience she's ever spoken to, and it comes just 32 days into her unexpected campaign.

It's a chance to reintroduce herself to the millions of Americans who know her name, but maybe not much more. We're told that the stakes of this moment are not lost on the vice president, if she needs a pep talk, maybe she could ask her running mate.

Governor Walz went back to coach walls to pump up the crowd last night.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOV. TIM WALZ (D-MN), 2024 VICE PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: It's the fourth quarter, we're down a field goal, but we're on offense and we've got the ball. We're driving down the field. And boy, do we have the right team? Kamala Harris is tough. Kamala Harris is experienced, and Kamala Harris is ready. Our job, our job, our job, our job for everyone watching is to get in the trenches and do the blocking and tackling.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BASH: The Harris, Walz's team also got an assist from one of the most influential women in the world.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

OPRAH WINFREY, MEDIA MOGUL: Let's choose honor and let us choose joy. Let's all choose Kamala Harris.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BASH: So weird. She sounds so much like Oprah Winfrey. Let's start with what we know about tonight's speech. The stakes are very high. And it is a speech that Harris hopes will help propel her right into the Oval Office.

For more, I want to go to my colleague. MJ Lee. MJ, you've been doing reporting, talking to members of the vice president's team, how she is preparing that moment. What are you hearing?

MJ LEE, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Yeah. Tonight is undeniably the biggest speech of Kamala Harris's career. And of course, the last 24 hours or so have very much been focused for the vice president on making final edits and practicing the delivery. And while there's a lot that she is going to want to accomplish. A campaign official tells us that they really do see three main objectives heading into tonight.

First and foremost, and this is obvious, they want her to be able to tell the Kamala Harris story. This is going to include talking about her middle-class upbringing, her mom and her influence and how that background really fueled her decision to become a prosecutor to represent underrepresented communities.

The second is drawing the Donald Trump contrast, including talking about Project 2025, I do think that this section will probably be sort of the policy heavy section, contrasting her vision with what she sees as the Trump second term policy agenda.

And then there's going to be sort of talking about all of this in the context of what this campaign official says is her patriotism, that she will say, all of this is driven by her sort of sense of duty to the country. And she'll say that is a contrast as well from Donald Trump and what fuels him.

This is a speech, Dana, that the vice president has been working on for a number of weeks now, really since President Joe Biden dropped out of the 2024 race. And the last 24 hours, again, have been very much focused on the actual delivery of the speech tonight.

As one adviser put it to me, you know, she has been thinking through how every sentence in that speech is going to land and is going to be received by the audience. And of course, that includes the audience in this arena tonight at the United Center, but it also includes the millions of Americans that are going to be tuning in. Dana?

[12:05:00]

BASH: MJ, thank you so much for that great reporting. Joining me now is another woman who will be taking that podium behind us tonight, Senator Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts. It's nice to see you.

SEN. ELIZABETH WARREN (D-MA): It's good to see you. BASH: The biggest moment in her career is going to be tonight. What do you think is the most important message, the most important policy, the most important -- because it's 2024 vibes that you think she should give up.

WARREN: So, look, it needs to be Kamala Harris being Kamala Harris. This is about nothing, if not, authenticity who you are. Let people know who she is. I've known Kamala for nearly 14 years now. And if people see both the warmth of Kamala, the real depth of her passion for hard working families and how they need a country, a government that is on their side, combined with the steeliness of Kamala Harris. She's strong, she's tough, she's smart, she's got good ideas.

So, there's a lot to pack into it, but I think at the end of the day, it will really just be Kamala being Kamala.

BASH: When you ended your own presidential race in 2020, you said something that I will never forget about what it's like to be a woman running for office, particularly the highest office in the land. I want our viewers to listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

WARREN: Gender in this race, you know, that is the trap question for every woman. If you say, yeah, there was sexism in this race, everyone says whiner. And if you say no, there was no sexism. About a bazillion women think, what planet do you live on.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BASH: Senator, that was only four years ago.

WARREN: Surprise.

BASH: Has the country come along in a way that you think Kamala Harris at the top of this ticket is going to be different?

WARREN: So, I look at it this way. We've been making a lot of change. 2016, we nominated a woman as the head of the Democratic ticket to run for president. I always remember, she got three million more votes than the other guys. There were a lot of people ready to do this.

In 2020, we had six women say, I want to run for the top office and put their ideas out there. That changes America, again, didn't make it, but it changes things. And now we've had four years of a woman as vice president of this country. And we've had one more thing, the Dobbs opinion, two years ago.

And I think that changed the country again because the majority of Americans -- the overwhelming majority of Americans do not support taking away a constitutional right from the women of this country. And it has energized women and friends of women, also sometimes known as men to say, we just got to do things a little differently around here.

And Kamala Harris has been at the forefront of that fight. She has shown her steeliness and her leadership. You know, I just want to remind everyone, we live in an America today where 30 percent of all women are in states that effectively ban abortion. If Donald Trump and J. D. Vance take over the White House, it won't be 30 percent, it will be 100 percent.

BASH: So, you don't believe them when they say, no national ban.

WARREN: Please.

BASH: They are saying that over and over.

WARREN: Oh. They're trying to say it at the same time that Donald Trump just this week said, he had no regrets about what he had done with the Dobbs opinion and putting an extremist Supreme Court in place. And the Project 2025, people have already laid out the playbook and said, here is how they can ban abortion nationwide effectively without even having Congress on their side.

And there's the difference between what the Republicans want to do. They want to go to an extremist place where nobody is safe. Whether you're in a red state, a purple state, a blue state, Kamala Harris leads that fight. And with Kamala Harris as president and a Democratic Congress, we will protect abortion rights for every woman in this country. We will protect access to IVF. We will protect access to contraception.

BASH: As the former president has been watching this convention. He has been saying louder and louder, over and over again, I am not Project 2025. Project 2025 isn't me. He has also said in his running mate reaffirmed this to me a couple of weeks ago that, for example, they're not going to touch the abortion pill. They will allow that to be mailed.

WARREN: Sure. You know, let me just put it this way. Do you trust those guys? Would you really say, I am willing to stake my future, the future of my daughters, the future of my granddaughters on the word of Donald Trump, who bragged how many thousands of times about how proud he was to have put in an extremist Supreme Court in place? And how proud he was when they pitched out Roe versus Wade.

[12:10:00]

You know, look, this is a man who says whatever he thinks will get him through the moment and let him seize power. And I just got to tell you, we're not going to buy it.

BASH: I want you to listen to something that Michelle Obama said. It was a message specifically to Democrats who might not agree with everything that Kamala Harris agrees with.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MICHELLE OBAMA, FORMER FIRST LADY OF THE UNITED STATES: So, folks, we cannot be our own worst enemies. No. We cannot get a Goldilocks complex about whether everything is just right.

(END VIDEO CLIP) BASH: That message really does seem aimed right at some progressives who might not be in line with her completely on issues like healthcare or immigration or Gaza. Senator, you are obviously a top progressive. A lot of people around the country identify with you on those issues. What do you think? What is your message to them about Kamala Harris, and the whole perfect being the enemy of the good that Michelle Obama was trying to talk about?

WARREN: I think of it as we are fighting the fights right in front of us. The number one fight is on protecting access to abortion and IVF all across this country. We are fighting that fight. It's in front of us. The choice is there. You can go one way or the other. There's no sitting this one out.

The second one we're fighting right now is how we strengthen America's middle class. Donald Trump wants to help the billionaires, big tax cuts, more power. Kamala Harris has always been a person who fights for opportunity in the middle class. And right now, that means cutting costs for families. She's laid out economic plans to do this.

I see this as we have an opportunity to make a real difference. And to gather together as Democrats, as Independents and as some Republicans, to say this is a vision we care about. As I said earlier, I've known Kamala Harris for nearly 14 years now. I trust who she fights for. It's not the billionaires. She fights to build a stronger middle class, to give opportunity to all our kids, and that's why I'm in this fight. It's why I'm proud to be in this fight.

BASH: It's good to see you, Senator. Thank you. We will see you again from that podium tonight. You're going to be one of the big speakers tonight. Appreciate it.

WARREN: Thank you. And tonight is Kamala Harris's night and Elizabeth Warren's night. You know, her reporters share their scoops and analysis about what to expect. And later, these guys know a thing or two about crafting a great speech and guiding a winning Democratic campaign. David Axelrod and Jon Favreau will be here live in Chicago with me. Don't go anywhere.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[12:15:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BASH: When Kamala Harris takes the stage tonight, Democrats hope she will put an exclamation point on a convention that they are feeling pretty good about. It also means following the Democratic bench that has been on display here.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PETE BUTTIGIEG, UNITED STATES SECRETARY OF TRANSPORTATION: I believe in a better politics, one that finds us at our most decent and open and brave.

GOV. WES MOORE (D-MD): Making America great means saying the ambitions of this country would be incomplete without your help.

GOV. JOSH SHAPIRO (D-PA): It's our future and freedoms that are on the line, and you have the power to shape the future of this country. We value our freedom. We cherish our democracy, and we love this country.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BASH: I have a terrific group of reporters here with me now to talk about all of this. CNN's David Chalian, PBS NewsHour's Laura Barron- Lopez and Zolan Kanno-Youngs of The New York Times. Nice to see you all to be here. David Chalian, give us your big David Chalian thoughts.

DAVID CHALIAN, CNN POLITICAL DIRECTOR: Oh, God.

BASH: There's no pressure.

CHALIAN: If you noted in those string of sound bites, the deep bench. But obviously, they're not competing with what's going to happen tonight, right? This is a stage of her own, and it's the largest political moment of her life. And Kamala Harris, I heard you note at the top of the show, of course, the history of being the first black woman, the first woman of Asian descent to accept a major party nomination.

It's so intriguing to me, you know, she's not leaning into that identity piece as much. She -- that has not been a sort of calling card of this four-and-a-half-week campaign so far, but it will be undeniable. When she embodies that and takes the stage, and it's going to be a huge moment that not only will this crowd, obviously, that will be in the arena appreciate, but the country will see it. And it is also the very embodiment of the core message here, all week long from Democrats, which is time to turn the page.

BASH: Go ahead.

[12:20:00]

LAURA BARRON-LOPEZ, WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT, PBS NEWSHOUR: It's just -- David's right, that she's not leaning into it, and a lot of Democrats don't think that she necessarily should lean into it. They think that it's overt. That it's self-evident her identity is, and that other can do that for her.

And you have heard a lot of speakers throughout the convention specifically talk about coming from immigrant parents, an immigrant referencing that over and over again. The story of immigrants, a family of immigrants, they feel like is a really keyway for her to relate to a lot of Americans.

ZOLAN KANNO-YOUNGS, WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT, THE NEW YORK TIMES: She often actually tells her aides this that she doesn't want to just go out and just talk about the historic nature of her role. She wants to go out and talk about policies, talk about the work that she's doing to be judged off her merits. That's actually been a through line from her days as a prosecutor as well to her time as vice president. So, it is something I'm looking for later on tonight because this is historic. And how much she will talk about that or seize the moment and rather focus on the contrast between what she's presenting and what the former president will be presenting.

BASH: David, I want to read something that our friend, the great Dan Balz wrote in The Washington Post this morning. Thursday's speech provides her with the most significant opportunity yet to move voters, particularly those on the fence, in her direction. It will probably be the last time she will command such attention solely for herself. Democrats have done all they can this week to set up Harris for success.

CHALIAN: It is so true. And I would say, the opportunity is greater than most nominees at this stage of a race because of her late entrance to the race, right? So, the opportunity is always there for a nominee, but because so many people are not locked in to an opinion on her yet.

There's risk there too obviously, but there is great opportunity at a huge scale for her. This is not a debate where she has to share the stage with her opponent. This is not going to be the interviews and the press questions that she'll face in the scrutiny throughout the rough and tumble of the daily life on the campaign trail.

This is her opportunity to occupy this space and speak to those very voters that, Dana, is talking about the fence sitters directly today. And you know, if past is prolog, she's been seizing opportunity after opportunity in these last four and a half weeks as the Democratic candidate.

BASH: It's not just about her, though, and about her biography and her intentions and her strategy and her policies, it's about the other guy. And it has been remarkable the way that this party has seized on Project 2025 in a marketing strategy.

I would argue, very successful one to frame Donald Trump as scary and to frame, more importantly, the things that he will do that way, especially at a time where particularly a month and two days ago, when Joe Biden was still on the top of the ticket. That Democrats were still struggling with what they called amnesia from the Trump days. Last night, they did the Project 2025 thing in a bit of comedy. Let's listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KENAN THOMPSON, ACTOR AND COMEDIAN: I have got some bad news for you. On page 584, Project 2025 calls for the elimination of protections for LGBTQ plus Americans. She is an OBGYN that delivers babies, uh, oh.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yeah. It's bad news, isn't it?

THOMPSON: It sure is. On page 459, Project 2025 resurrects a law from the 1800s called the Comstock Act to ban abortion nationwide and throw healthcare providers in jail.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BASH: I mean, to hear an SNL veteran talking about the Comstock Act is definitely not something that was on my bingo card. But they obviously think it is successful, and our reporting is that it is driving Donald Trump crazy.

BARRON-LOPEZ: It is, and he has repeatedly tried to distance himself from it, but it doesn't really work because of the fact that so many of the people that wrote Project 2025 worked in his administration, are on short list to work in a second Trump administration.

But you're right, Dana, that this has broken through. You hear it from voters, especially Democratic base voters, that they talk about it a lot. So, the Harris campaign and the Biden campaign previously thought that it could be something to really mobilize their base around and it appears to be working.

And so, it's something that you're going to hear them talk about more and more going interesting to see how much Harris actually dives into some of those specifics. Because, you know, politics 101, is that you don't lay out an entire massive blueprint during a campaign for every specific thing you may try to unveil. Yes, you lay out some policy proposals, but not something as big as 900 pages because then that could box you in later on, if you were to win and try to pass things and try to pass legislation.

[12:25:00]

BASH: Certainly not what Donald Trump himself did in the last campaigns that he ran in terms of policy. But this is also perhaps a conservative movement that saw that they were successful on making him support specific Supreme Court justices. He did. He appointed them and Dobbs happened.

KANNO-YOUNGS: That's right. And look, he can try. He -- the former president has tried to distance himself from this. But even before this convention, Democrats, I thought, and the vice president specifically in her speeches, would lay out the specifics. Say, there were more than a hundred former allies, advisers from the Trump administration that worked on this, developed Project 2025.

She would talk about how it would take federal employees, career officials, and replace them with allies as well, breaking down those policies. That's also very much a characteristic of the vice president. She is somebody that somewhat works in the fine print and tries to articulate specific policies.

At times it hasn't earlier in her vice presidency, always digested and always sort of resonated with crowds. But now you're seeing through creative strategies, using comedy, using employee celebrities, the ability to actually get this message out to the public.

BASH: There was a moment that I will never forget, and probably none of America or the world will ever forget. And that is when Governor Walz talked about his family and the reaction from his son, Gus. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

WALZ: Both Gus and Gwen, you are my entire world. And I love you. I'm letting you --

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BASH: I mean, every time I see that, I get -- I know that's my dad.

CHALIAN: Because it's the reverse of what life is like, right? Parents are constantly so prideful in their children. And the pride on that Gus's face and his entire being of his father, it's sort of the reverse that the way it is, and it was just -- it's such a human moment, anybody can recognize it.

And I think it speaks to, you know, the whole coach walls thing, and both he and Gwen Walz as teachers so invested in children and then seeing their child have that kind of, like, robust emotional moment. It was just an absolutely breakthrough moment of the entire week.

BARRON-LOPEZ: It's also a striking contrast, especially at a time when J. D. Vance, the vice-presidential pick for Donald Trump has repeatedly attacked Harris and Democrats as being anti-family, and to see that on display here.

BASH: That's an important point. All right, coming up. Exit stage right. Sources tell CNN that RFK Jr. will end his presidential campaign tomorrow and may make a quick endorsements.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[12:30:00]